A 37-year-old man who taught at a Rochester high school was convicted of nearly a dozen criminal charges in Plymouth Superior Court on Friday for grooming and assaulting a student, prosecutors said.
A jury found Andre Arsenault, of Marion, guilty of nine counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over and one count each of assault with intent to rape and rape, Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz said in a statement.
Arsenault will be sentenced on Dec. 19.
In October 2022, a former student of Arsenault’s at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School reported to Rochester Police that she had been “groomed and victimized” by her culinary art teacher in high school, Cruz’s office said.
The victim reported to police that the inappropriate behavior dated back to 2018 and that Arsenault assaulted her between 2021 and 2022.
Cruz praised the woman for coming forward and testifying.
“It is because of her bravery that he will no longer be in a position to victimize anyone else,” he said in the statement.
“Teachers in our community hold a great deal of power over our children and have the ability to help them succeed in life. Rather than working to better our community, Andre Arsenault used this privileged position to prey upon a student,” Cruz added.
